Rogue security software still top threat: Microsoft
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 03 November 2009, 15:23 IST   |    2 Comments
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Rogue security software still top threat: Microsoft
Redmond: Microsoft has released its seventh volume of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv7), which indicates that worm infections in the enterprise rose by nearly 100 percent during the first half of 2009 over the preceding six months. Rogue security software remains a major threat to customers; however, 20 percent fewer customers were affected by rogue infections during the past six months. SIRv7 provides a deep, accurate view of the threat landscape country by country. "It's been said that knowledge is power - and when it comes to security intelligence, a lack of accurate information can be detrimental to separating real threats from hype," said Vinny Gullotto, General Manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. "Microsoft is committed to providing not only security intelligence for our customers and the community, but also the most accurate and comprehensive view of the realities of the threat landscape." The Zlob family of Trojans, considered a top threat two years ago, has drastically declined due to Microsoft's work to aggressively clean customer machines and customers' diligence in applying software updates. Ten years after Melissa appeared and defined mass-mailing worms as a class of malicious threats, worm infections have resurged to become the second most prevalent threat for enterprises in the first half of 2009. Worms rely heavily on access to unsecured file shares and removable storage volumes, both of which are plentiful in enterprise environments. Conficker was the top worm threat detected for the enterprise, because its method of propagation works more effectively within a firewalled network environment. The second critical worm is Taterf. Its detections is up 156 percent since the second half of 2008. It targets massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These attacks rely less on social engineering to spread, and more on access to unsecured file shares and removable storage volumes - both of which are often plentiful in the enterprise. According to the report, rogue security software remained the single largest threat category for the first half of 2009. In addition, while there has been progress combating rogues, this threat remained a major pain point for computer users during the same period. Also known as "scareware," rogue security software takes advantage of customers' desire to keep their computer protected. Microsoft products and services removed malware from more than 13 million computers worldwide, down from 16.8 million in the second half of 2008. Computer users are advised to use an anti-malware solution from a company they trust and to keep its threat definitions up to date.

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